Spelunking Through Dreams
by Lowar
Summary: Ash's dreams have recently taken to having him and Misty Embrace...
1. Morning

Hello Everybody! This is my first Fanfic that I've ever posted online so please review and tell me what you think. I really hope everyone enjoys it. :)

Now, I've seen one in everyone else's, so: **Disclaimer:** I do not own pokemon, nor have I ever, but if I did I would've conquered Estonia by now. XD

And, yes, I am a hopeless romantic. :P

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Pt. 1: Good mor-_thwack_!

(Ash's POV)

I was having a dream that I had beaten the elite four and Gary and they were bowing down to my power. It was a nice dream. Then, I saw Misty running up to me, smiling and with her arms outstretched, and she called out, "Ash." I started running to her and called back, "Misty." "Ash!" "Misty!" I was just about to embrace her, when she said…

"Wake up, Ash!" Not sure I heard her right, I started to ask her what she had said. I got as far as, "Wha—" Then I felt a sudden flash of pain and woke up.

Sitting up in my sleeping bag, I rubbed my head where Misty had hit it with her mallet. "What'd you do that for?!" I yelled, my eyes closed in pain.

I heard Misty laugh. "To get you up, of course," she said, laughing again.

Opening my eyes, I turned to yell at her… and froze the moment I laid my eyes on her. She was dressed in her usual tear-away jeans, yellow shirt, and suspenders- same as usual. There was one _big_ difference between her current appearance and her usual: her hair was down. Now, I've seen Misty with her hair down before and every other time I've thought something like, "Huh, I usually don't see Misty's hair like that," and then resume thinking about whatever it was that I had been thinking about. Not _this_ time, though, oh no. This time that hair transfixed me. It looked so shiny and I found myself wanting to run my fingers through it. It wasn't just her hair, either. Her eyes looked so deep and they sparkled in the morning sun…

"Um, Ash…" Misty said

"What?" I responded, still dazed.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked, and awkward tone in her voice.

Oh, crap, she noticed! I inwardly kicked myself out of my stupor and tried to think of an explanation. "Uh, n-no I wasn't," I said, trying to buy myself a few seconds to think.

Her eyes narrowed "Yes you were!" she yelled, her legendary(or, at least, it ought to be legendary) temper flaring "Or do you call it something else when you're sitting there looking right at me for TEN SECONDS?!"

I winced at her yelling. Partly because it was true, but mostly because it was adding to the already huge headache Misty had just given me… (Light bulb turns on) That's it! It's brilliant! Who says I never have good ideas? Now I just have to pull it off. "It was my head!"

Now Misty just looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, uh, y'see, w-when I sit up real fast, like I just did, I get a headrush, and it _really_ added to the pain from the hit you gave me. It hurt so much I couldn't move my head." I rubbed my temples with my 

hands and closed my eyes like I was trying to massage the pain away. Actually, I _was_ trying trying to massage the pain away. The headrush thing had been a lie, but… "…the yelling didn't much help things." I didn't notice that I'd said that out loud. In fact, with my eyes still closed, I didn't notice anything.

Until I felt my hands, still massaging my temples, being clasped by another pair of hands. Very _soft_ hands. I snapped my eyes open and saw Misty's face, just inches away from mine. "Ohmygosh, really?" she asked, her voice laden with concern. Her eyes were worried as she examined the goose-egg where her mallet had hit me and I could tell from how lightly her hands were holding mine that she was being extra careful not to cause me any more pain. Despite myself, I felt my face grow hot. Then she looked down from the bump on my head and at me and she seemed to realize where her hands were. She quickly put her hands behind her back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize- I mean, I wasn't _trying_ to-"

"Ash! Misty! Breakfast!" Brock called to us.

Misty seemed glad for the interruption. "Oh, uh, C-coming!" She replied. Then, regaining her composure in voice, if not in face, she said to me "C'mon, let's go." Then she quickly turned away and ran off towards the campfire.

I felt like I had to say _something_ in reply, so I called after her, "I'm gonna change first." Then I mentally slapped myself for saying something so lame. But then I realized: Had Misty just been… Bashful?! And I could've sworn I saw her blushing slightly before she ran off…

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That's all for part one! Once again, please tell me what you thought of it.

Next time, we'll get some of Misty's POV.

_Ciao!_


	2. Setting Out

Spelunking Through Dreams Pt. 2

Hi all! Here's the long awaited Chapter 2! It would have been a shorter wait, but I got caught up in all this work that I had to do in order to graduate. -; Thank you to everyone that put this story on their alerts and special thanks to the one person who reviewed.

Anyhow, this time it's Misty's POV. I think that chapter 3 will be hers as well, so there's something to look forward too. Enjoy!

Oh, and I do not own poke'mon, just a dog.

Departure (Misty's POV)

Breakfast was fairly normal, except that Ash didn't say much. Usually, he'd be talking about how he was gonna beat any trainers we came across, or he'd be asking Brock about what wild Poke'mon were in the area. And, 9 times out of ten, he and I would get into an explosive argument over nothing. I smiled a little at that thought. We were both so stubborn that the fights usually ended with Brock and Pikachu teaming up to stop us.

But there wasn't any of that this morning. Worse, I knew _I_ was responsible. I shouldn't have hit him so hard or yelled so loud. Then he would be his normal excited self. As it was, he kept scratching at his head. It almost looked like he was pondering something, but I knew it was really just a killer headache. That I'd given him, no less. It's not like I _meant_ to give him one, I was just waking him up. I've woken him up in worse ways than hitting him with my mallet and he was fine after all of those…

"W-what is it, Misty?"

I suddenly realized that, as I'd been thinking, my eyes had drifted to Ash and had stayed there quite a while. "Uh, I-I was just… wondering if your head was feeling any better," I smiled, hoping he'd buy it.

He did. "Oh. Yeah," he replied, smiling a little, "It feels much better now." He went back to his breakfast.

I felt better, knowing that he was feeling better, and it was nice to see him smile again… Wait, what? Since when has my happiness depended on his? And why was I staring at him?

I realized then that I was staring at him… _again_. I looked down at my food before he noticed and felt my face getting hot. Now I'm blushing?! What is going on?

My thoughts were interrupted by Brock's voice, "C'mon, Misty, we've gotta pack up our stuff."

"Yeah," Ash added as he pulled up tent stakes, "The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can find some wild poke'mon!"

Having regained my composure, I replied, "Well, I'm more interested in-"

Ash cut me off, "Checking out the shops in the next town, right?" He was grinning a little, like he knew he was right.

And, as a matter of fact, he was. "How did you know?" I asked, a little blown away that he'd read my mind.

Ash blinked "Well, uh," he looked at his feet, "I just noticed that, well, that you like to go shopping when we get to a new town," he looked up and smiled at me, "Even if it's just window shopping, you know?"

"Oh," was all I could say. I felt… strangely happy. Happy at what? That Ash had noticed something _other_ than a poke'mon? Thinking about it for a moment, I discovered that, yes, that _was _the reason I was happy. Well, not the fact that it had been something other than a poke'mon, but the fact that it had been _me_. Wait, why would _that_ make me happy?

As I tried to puzzle out that question, I finished packing my red bag and stood up, slinging it over my shoulder.

Then, I heard a voice "Ready to go, Misty?" I turned towards the voice a moment before my preoccupied mind made the connection of whom it belonged to: Ash. His face grew concerned and he asked "Are you alright, Misty?"

At first, I thought he'd asked that because I'd Just stayed silent for a couple of moments after he'd asked me that. Then, the hot feeling in my cheeks registered in my brain; I was blushing… _reeealy_ blushing. "Oh, um, uh," I stalled, trying desperately to think of some excuse. Then I remembered what Ash had said earlier when I thought he'd been staring at me. Yes! Salvation!! "H-headrush!" I blurted out, "From standing up…" I was inwardly praying that this would work.

Ash's face changed momentarily to relief, then it changed into… something I couldn't Identify. "Oh," he said, sounding a little subdued (which was strange for him). There was an incredibly awkward silence, and then…

"Hey, c'mon guys, let's go!" Brock broke the silence, waving to us from a little ways down the road "Or I'll leave you behind!" he added, laughing.

Startled out of our thoughts (for a moment, at least), we both turned and replied "Coming!" We started running to catch up with Brock. My hair got in my face and I realized that, because I'd been so preoccupied with my thoughts, I'd forgotten to tie it up the way I usually have it. Stopping, I set down my bag and started rooting around in it for my hair tie.

Ash stopped a little after I did and looked back at me. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, pulling my hair tie out of the bag "I just forgot to tie my hair back is all." I Tied up my hair, picked up my bag and was about to keep going when I saw that Ash was still looking at me. For a moment, we just stared at each other. For some reason, I didn't turn away. I just kept staring into his eyes and he kept staring back. It wasn't like the staring contests we sometimes had that left me drained and usually feeling worse than before about whatever argument we were having. No, this was…

'_Nice._'

The thought popped into my head before I could stop it. Nice? Since when did I think about Ash like that? But, despite my denial, I couldn't help but notice that I was still staring into Ash's eyes. I started to panic as I felt my face growing hot. Then…

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu called to us from a little ways ahead.

It was like pressing play on a paused movie. We both blinked and looked over towards Pikachu. After a moment, Ash spoke.

"W-we should get going."

"O-okay" I said. It was all I _could _say, the way my thoughts were churning. Thoughts like, '_Why was he staring at me?'_ and _'Why was I staring back?'_ Stuff like that. All questions and no answers, and they just kept flying through my head as I followed Ash to Brock and we set out on our day's journey. I had the feeling that this would be a _long_ day.


	3. The River

Spelunking Through Dreams pt. 3

The River

Ooooooookay! I was writing the third chapter and it seemed to be getting a bit long, so I split it up. The godd thing about that is that I'm already about halfway done with the next chapter! :) The bad thing is that this one now has a cliffhanger ending...O.O;

Thanks to all reviewers!

And I don't own poke'mon, yadda yadda yadda.

Misty's POV (again)

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We'd been walking for a few hours and I'd managed to calm my thoughts. They were still bugging me, but at least now I could maintain my composure. I'd been forced to walk at the back of the group because my face wouldn't stop flushing. Just in case, I stayed about even with Brock while Ash led a few feet ahead.

It was a nice day; a little on the hot side, but with plenty of cool breezes and a few clouds for shade now and then. Still, we were starting to feel the strain of walking for several hours. Even Ash looked like his usually boundless energy was stretched a little thin. I thought of all the times when it seemed like he could keep walking forever while Brock and I were about to collapse. Still, he'd always stop when we really needed a rest, and he'd wait until we were fully recovered. It was nice to know that he cared about us.

'_About me.'_

Gah! Where did _that_ come from?! Just when I'd gotten my thoughts under control, too! Quick, I've gotta distract myself before it totally unbalances me like before…

I realized that I could hear a river up ahead. Looking up ahead, I could see the river bank and a nice little clearing beside it. Yeah, that'll do…

"Hey guys," I said, "Maybe we could take a break by that river." Pleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework…

"But," Ash replied, "If we stop we might not get to the next town until tomorrow." Typical.

"Aw, c'mon Ash," Brock chimed in, "We won't lose that much time. Besides, it's almost lunchtime."

At the mention of food, Ash's stomach let out a loud grumble. Heh, so predictable. When it came to knowing how Ash's mind worked, Brock had it down. "Well, I guess we _could_ stop for a while," Ash said, scratching his head sheepishly. Looking at him like that, I felt my thoughts trying to break loose again. Why was that?! Ash always scratches his head like that when his stomach growls… So _why_ was it affecting me like this?! Maybe I should relax by the river for a little bit and sort out my mind.

We came to the clearing and I walked past where Ash and Brock were setting up lunch. Ash called to me "Hey, where ya going, Misty? Aren't you gonna eat?" He sounded concerned. I 

decided to reply without looking back; I wasn't sure that I could keep my face from betraying my thoughts.

"I'm not all that hungry, so I'm just going to rest by the river." I said.

"Oh, okay." He sounded disappointed. Why? Oh well, I could puzzle that out later. Right now, I had to clear my head.

Brock piped up "Be careful. Rivers can be dangerous, you know."

"I know, I know," I assured him. I don't know why he was concerned. I _am_ one of the Cerulean sisters; it's not like I don't know how to swim.

Sitting down by the river, I watched as the water gently flowed by me. The sparkle of the noonday sun on the water and the soft sound of the river combined and it wasn't long before I had achieved my goal of relaxing. Closing my eyes, I started to hear sounds that I hadn't previously been aware of: Pidgey and Spearow calls, the wind rustling through tree leaves and the tall grass, stuff like that. I found that I had completely forgotten whatever thoughts had been bothering me.

After a few more minutes of just enjoying the sounds with my eyes closed, I felt something change. I know that's vague, but I don't know how else to describe it. I opened my eyes to try and discover what the change was and was surprised to see Ash sitting right in front of me. More than that, _looking_ right at me. And he had this grin; not his usual, reassuring, goofy grin, this one seemed… Sweet. Ehh?! Those thoughts were back, but something was different. I didn't feel like freaking out over that thought, I was just… Staring. At Ash.

"Misty, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Ash. You can ask me anything." Why did I say that? I didn't even _think_ that! It's like I've lost all control of my actions. But, for some reason, I don't care…

"Can I kiss you?"

Okay, I know for a fact that I should freak out in some way right now, but for the life of me I just didn't want to. I just wanted to stay in this moment. "Yes," I heard myself say. He closed his eyes and started leaning towards me. I did likewise.

After I closed my eyes, though, I felt that change again. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something had changed. Opening my eyes, I saw that Ash wasn't there. A split second of confusion was all it took before I realized: I had been _dreaming_! I had no time to dwell on this fact or the implications thereof, though, because I also realized something else: In my dream, I had leaned forward to kiss Ash. In real life, I was pitching forward into a river. A river which I quickly discovered was deeper and _much_ faster than I had previously thought.


	4. Pickup Vine

Spelunking Through Dreams pt. 4

Hey, it's time for the IVth installment of my lovely little fanfic. In my opinion, this is the sappiest one yet! Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but oh well! There are one or two chapters still to come after this one, so check back soon! Special thanks to all who Reviewed.

I don't own Poke'mon.

Pick-up vine (_reeally_ bad pun. lol.)

(Now it's Ash's POV! This starts out after Misty sat down by the river.)

I watched Misty walk to and sit down at the riverbank. Turning back to the food that Brock was setting out, I still couldn't stop thinking about her, even while eating! It had been that way all day, and over the course of the day I had become increasingly grateful for the fact that I was always at the front of the group. It meant that I didn't have to worry about hiding my face as much. At least now I could mostly keep my face normal, but my mind was still stuck on her and I couldn't figure out why! What was _really_ strange was that I found I didn't mind thinking about Misty. It was actually kind of… _'Nice.'_ Sonofa...! Where did these thoughts keep coming from?

Brock had noticed my silence. "Something wrong, Ash?"

"Oh, uh, not really," I replied, hoping he'd buy it.

He didn't. "You sure? You seem worried."

"Well," I had to say _some_thing. Maybe he'd believe a bit of the truth "It's just, I'm kinda worried about Misty. She says that she's not hungry, but I can't help but think that she'll get hunger pains later. Maybe we should save her one of these sandwiches."

"That's probably a good idea," Brock said, taking one of the sandwiches and wrapping it in a cloth. "She's a strong girl, but everyone needs to eat." When he'd finished, he held the wrapped sandwich out to me.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"It was your idea, Ash. You should be the one to give it to her." What? With how my thoughts had been acting up today, I didn't think there was any way I could pull off giving something to Misty, face to face, even if it was just a sandwich. Of course, Brock didn't know anything about my thoughts, and a little voice in my head told me it would be better for all considered if it stayed that way.

"Okay," I said, managing to not stammer. I took the sandwich and slipped it into one of my jacket pockets. My mind went back to thinking about Misty (like they had all day), and I looked over at her. She looked so peaceful, sitting by the river. It looked like she was asleep, the way her head was nodding and her shoulders were relaxed. After a moment, I realized that I was staring. Quickly, turning back to lunch, I tried to rationalize: I wasn't staring; I was just… making sure she was okay. Yeah, that's it. Besides, even if I _was_ staring, it's not like it was entirely _my_ fault. I mean, she's the one who's sitting there, looking all cute like tha— What the…?! Dang it, it happened again! Just when I thought I was back in control, too…

My thoughts were interrupted by a scream and a splash. Brock and I simultaneously looked over to where Misty had been sitting. Her red bag was lying on the ground and I could see her arm sticking up out of the water, quickly washing downriver. Pikachu was the first one running, with me and Brock right behind him. Misty seemed to be having trouble keeping her head above water. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a poke'ball from my belt and hurled it as far down the riverbank as I could. When it was about even with where Misty was in the river, I called out my poke'mon "Bulbasaur!!" The poke'ball opened and Bulbasaur appeared. "Quick," I shouted to it, "Grab Misty with your vines!!" Seeing her predicament, Bulbasaur quickly shot out two vines, using one to grab Misty's un-submerged arm and reaching one underwater to grab her waist. Still, I could tell that Misty was too heavy for Bulbasaur to pull out alone. Despite his best efforts to pull Misty out, Bulbasaur started to slide towards the river. Somehow, I reached a whole new level of panic and, making a flying leap, I cleared the remaining distance, grabbing the vines and starting to help pull Misty out. About a second later, Pikachu and Brock caught up and started helping, too. Together, we easily got Misty out of the water. The moment I was sure she was out of the river, I was at her side. She must've inhaled some water- she was coughing pretty hard- so I patted her back to try and help her clear her lungs.

Once she stopped coughing, she just kind of… collapsed against me. Her hands were tightly grasping fistfuls of my shirt and she was resting her head against my chest, her breathing still hard and shaky. It was really painful, seeing her like that. A pain like I never imagined. I put one arm around her and took one of her grasping hands in mine, trying… no, _needing_ to comfort her. Thankfully, it seemed to work. Her breathing slowed, and the grip she'd had on my shirt and hand slowly eased.

A small gust of wind hit us and I felt Misty shiver. I realized that, besides being soaking wet, she must be chilled to the bone from that river. Brock must have seen and deduced this as well because I heard him say "I'll get a blanket," and then he went back to our bags.

"C'mon, Misty," I said, "Let's go."

She looked up at me and nodded. I helped her up, but, for some reason, we never broke eye contact. We just stood there and kept staring into each other's eyes. It was just like this morning, right before we left. The same thoughts went through my head now as did then. Looking at her like that, I don't know, a part of me just didn't want to stop. After a few long moments I looked down because I felt my face heating up. She looked down, too. Looking down, I realized that I was still holding her hand. She must've noticed it, too, because we both hastily let go and turned away. After an exceptionally awkward moment, we both silently started back towards our bags.

**Tune in next time for "Cave Dive"!**


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